The National Biodiesel Board Monday launched an ad campaign highlighting the economic damage to biodiesel and renewable diesel producers from the Environmental Protection Agency’s small refinery exemptions.

The ads are currently scheduled to run for one week in Washington, D.C., and in Des Moines, Iowa.

The ad says:

 

“The president’s EPA is hurting farmers and eliminating jobs by giving special favors to big oil companies.”

 

Kurt Kovarik, NBB’s Vice President of Federal Affairs, adds:

 

“Just last month, President Trump vowed that his administration would defend America’s farmers.”

“Yet his EPA is preparing another flood of RFS exemptions that will harm farmers.”

 

NBB contends that the small refinery exemptions destroy demand for hundreds of millions of gallons of biodiesel and renewable diesel, which means a loss of jobs and a loss of value for agriculture.

An estimate from University of Illinois Professor Scott Irwin says the demand destruction could reach 2.45 billion gallons over the next few years causing a $7.7 billion economic loss for the biodiesel industry.